Home

Carlsbad Family Law Attorney

When facing a life-changing and emotionally charged legal matter involving the end of your marriage, you need an attorney who will take a personalized approach. You need an advocate who is sensitive to your needs and responsive to any issues that arise during the divorce process.

At Fischer & Van Thiel, L.L.P., we will take a personal interest in your case. Family law attorneys Michael Fischer and Craig Van Thiel— partners at our Southern California law firm — combine empathy with extensive experience and comprehensive legal knowledge. Our entire legal team combines over 50 years of experience in providing compassionate representation for our clients throughout the entire divorce process.

During your free initial consultation, we will spend time getting to know you and allowing you to get to know us. After all, we will be spending a lot of time together. However, that does not mean your divorce will be a lengthy process. We focus on efficiency and cost-effectiveness in negotiating the terms of a divorce prior to any formal mediation or litigation.

In looking out for the best interests of you and your children, we will not shy away from the mediation table or courtroom. However, negotiating a reasonable agreement for both sides gives you control in making decisions and keeping costs down. You want money to move on to the next chapter of your life, not spent on legal fees.

For more information or to schedule a free initial consultation with an experienced Carlsbad Family Law Attorney, please contact us by filling out our online intake form or calling us at 760-722-7669.

Q&A With Ficher Van Thiel

Why choose Fischer and Van Thiel?

I would have to say our tagline of “Here to Mediate – Ready to Litigate” probably sums it up. Any good attorney, I believe, will always try to come to the table and mediate an agreement, an agreement of the parties. In order to do that, you must have the knowledge and the facts ready to litigate the case. Our attorneys have over forty years of experience in Family Law. Each of our lawyers belongs to the California Bar Association, the North County Bar Association, the San Diego County Bar Association and we also belong to different family law panels within those organizations. We are a certified member of the Better Business Bureau.

What drove you to focus on family law?

The thing that drove us to focus on family law was that, generally, we like dealing with people. In family law there is much more court time and face to face time with our clients. There is also the feeling at the end of the day that you have done something constructive. Whenever you get a child into the correct situation that is best for the child, makes for a good day. Whenever you get an outed parent their fair share of a settlement, it is a good day. When you have the parent who is being taken advantage of;. when you prevent that from happening, that also is a good day, and makes it a very worthwhile reason to come to work.

What do you find most rewarding about what you do?

We see children being put in a situation in which their interest is not being served past the bickering of the parents, or the one parent not really looking out for the child’s interest. Whenever we solve that, and I see a child getting through a parents’ divorce or custody issue unscathed and relatively maintaining a sense that they still have both parents in their lives and able to share the love and attention of both parents, that is a very rewarding day.

What are some common types of family law cases which you handle?

Our office deals in all aspects of family law. We do typical divorce, high asset divorces custody issues, legal separations, post nuptials, prenuptials, and child support issues. We also crossover into some cases where CPS or juvenile court is involved. We have an attorney who worked for the Public Defender’s Office in juvenile court for over 13 years. She is also on our staff and able to handle all those matters. So, we are able to handle any family law issue. Even after the divorce is over, we have the ability to work on estate planning to create new wills and new trusts to preserve the assets and protect the children’s assets in the future.

How do you make the legal process easier for your client?

Anything a family law attorney does is in theory able to be done by the clients themselves. However, most clients do not have the time to read through the thousands and thousands of pages of statutes. They are not familiar with the very exacting rules the proper process of discovery. Our office has assisted in well over a thousand family law cases now, so we are not doing it for the first time. We have done these cases over and over again and know what the court is looking for and how to process the papers properly. Our attorneys participate in countless hours or continuing education to advance and hone our knowledge and skills. Our knowledge skill and experience make it easier for the client as they have a knowledgeable source to go to. When the opposing party says, “I’m going to take everything and you are going to get nothing”, they can look at their attorney and know with confidence that when the attorney tells them that it’s just not the law, they can now sleep at night, not lose weight, eat properly and go about their daily affairs with knowledge and trust that their interest are safe and being properly protected